They told tales of sweet-faced children who were grateful for the day’s modest lunch, breathtaking landscapes that looked like they were ripped from a magazine and a community working in concert to make sure no one goes to bed hungry.
Brazil’s
Zero Hunger Program has become a model for the world in how their government, locals and farm-growers work together to tend to the community’s hunger issue.
“They believe having food is a basic human right and passed a law to enforce that right,” says Josh Carter, director of UAB’s Study-Away Program.
UAB’s trip to review the hunger initiative was the first time a U.S. university did so, Carte
r says. The students were Hector DeSimone, Graham Holladay, Thandiwe Jolly, John Murray, Danielle Rand and Sara Upton. This sparked the attention of a national Brazilian TV station and newspaper who interviewed the students while there.
The students saw that, unlike the food pantries in the U.S. that have walls of canned goods and boxed staples, the food kitchens in Brazil are stocked with fresh, healthy produce thanks to local growers and purposeful planning by city officials. There is also a “people’s restaurant” where breakfast, lunch and dinner are served daily for around $1.25 to anyone who wants to eat. People from all walks of life come, from the homeless to folks donning business suits. The country has removed the stigma that you should feel ashamed for being hungry, Carter says.
Any produce that is not used in the restaurant and pantries go to local schools where children are fed a healthy breakfast and lunch. Old fruits and vegetables that can’t be made into meals are fed to local livestock or go back to fertilize the farms from which the produce came. Everything is kept in within the community.
“Food security is an important issue,” says Hector DeSimone, a 21-year-old from West Blocton, Ala. “And not just an issue in another country or on another continent; food security is an issue in America, in Alabama a
nd in Birmingham.”
He and many of the other UAB students became impassioned about spreading their lessons from Brazil to the Birmingham community where one in five people may not know where their next meal will come from, DeSimone says.
There are plans for UAB to possibly host a group from the Zero Hunger Programme and also take another group of students to Brazil next year.
“I hope Alabamians and Americans can adopt that attitude and help push the issue of food security to the front of political and societal issues,” says DeSimone. “We need to remember to help those close to us, a relative, a neighbor or even a stranger in our town.”
Brazil’s Zero Hunger Program has become a model for the world in how their government, locals and farm-growers work together to tend to the community’s hunger issue.
“They believe having food is a basic human right and passed a law to enforce that right,” says Josh Carter, director of UAB’s Study-Away Program.
UAB’s trip to review the hunger initiative was the first time a U.S. university did so, Carte
The students saw that, unlike the food pantries in the U.S. that have walls of canned goods and boxed staples, the food kitchens in Brazil are stocked with fresh, healthy produce thanks to local growers and purposeful planning by city officials. There is also a “people’s restaurant” where breakfast, lunch and dinner are served daily for around $1.25 to anyone who wants to eat. People from all walks of life come, from the homeless to folks donning business suits. The country has removed the stigma that you should feel ashamed for being hungry, Carter says.
Any produce that is not used in the restaurant and pantries go to local schools where children are fed a healthy breakfast and lunch. Old fruits and vegetables that can’t be made into meals are fed to local livestock or go back to fertilize the farms from which the produce came. Everything is kept in within the community.
“Food security is an important issue,” says Hector DeSimone, a 21-year-old from West Blocton, Ala. “And not just an issue in another country or on another continent; food security is an issue in America, in Alabama a
He and many of the other UAB students became impassioned about spreading their lessons from Brazil to the Birmingham community where one in five people may not know where their next meal will come from, DeSimone says.
There are plans for UAB to possibly host a group from the Zero Hunger Programme and also take another group of students to Brazil next year.
“I hope Alabamians and Americans can adopt that attitude and help push the issue of food security to the front of political and societal issues,” says DeSimone. “We need to remember to help those close to us, a relative, a neighbor or even a stranger in our town.”